The Truths Behind The Fiction
SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN’T READ SUBSTITUTE ANGEL YET, YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS ENTRY.
Substitute Angel is a work of fiction. But it’s been my experience that good fiction is usually etched in reality, and that was certainly the case here. For example, my lead character, Doc Reynolds, went to Eastern Michigan University. So did I. Doc ended his undergraduate career by attending summer classes. So did I. One of Doc’s final classes was a class called, “Appreciation of Shakespeare.” So was one of mine. In that class, Doc met a young woman that he would have a relationship with and then pine over for years afterward. The same thing happened to me. However, in my case, the pining wasn’t for years, and the young lady in question didn’t die in a gruesome traffic accident like my character Julia Orton. Rather, she simply moved on.
The lane heading down to Doc’s cabin filled with white pines on either side was based upon a real place I used to visit on Lake Charlevoix. And of course, many places referenced in the book—from Jake & Sadi’s Café & Art Gallery, to the stores on Bridge Street, to the town Fire Hall, to the Weathervane Restaurant—are all real places. Other locations, like St. Ignatius Catholic Church, the Crow’s Nest Bar & Grill, and the Portside Marina are fictional, but composites of real places in the area. Of course, a Charlevoix local would know the difference between the real landmarks and the fictional ones. But as long as they thought I was true to the spirit of the town, well, that’s the most I could hope for. To me, Charlevoix is as important a character in the novel as any person.
There were other things—little things—referenced in the book that were real as well. For example, when describing Doc’s father, James Reynolds, I wrote that he had once gotten high with the members of Pink Floyd when they played Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan back in the early 1970’s. That’s true, Pink Floyd did play Hill Auditorium in the early 1970’s. I was there. They were on tour to promote their album “Atom Heart Mother.” Tickets were a mere $4.00. It was awesome!
Or, at the opening of the Chapter called, “Secrets Revealed,” there is a scene where Doc and Farren are driving to Traverse City to do some Christmas shopping, and Doc mentions that his family used to camp at the state park across from the street from the bay. So did I.
There is also truth to the medical treatments described in the book. I spoke with a doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, a surgical nurse at the University of Michigan, and a paramedic at a neighborhood Nashville firehouse to align all of my medical symptoms and treatments.
Then there were the biblical references that Clair spouted so effortlessly. Don’t even get me going on those. Suffice it to say, I’m not one of those people who can quote chapter and verse of the bible and it was a lot of work to find the appropriate biblical quote. But that’s what you do when you tell a story. You pull from everything you know: places, people, events, then do considerable research on top of that. To tell you the truth, there is something very draining about the writing process; about writing and weaving truth with fiction. But when a stranger writes a kind review, or someone comes up to you and says, “I really liked your book,” suddenly, it’s all worth it.
Substitute Angel is a work of fiction. But it’s been my experience that good fiction is usually etched in reality, and that was certainly the case here. For example, my lead character, Doc Reynolds, went to Eastern Michigan University. So did I. Doc ended his undergraduate career by attending summer classes. So did I. One of Doc’s final classes was a class called, “Appreciation of Shakespeare.” So was one of mine. In that class, Doc met a young woman that he would have a relationship with and then pine over for years afterward. The same thing happened to me. However, in my case, the pining wasn’t for years, and the young lady in question didn’t die in a gruesome traffic accident like my character Julia Orton. Rather, she simply moved on.
The lane heading down to Doc’s cabin filled with white pines on either side was based upon a real place I used to visit on Lake Charlevoix. And of course, many places referenced in the book—from Jake & Sadi’s Café & Art Gallery, to the stores on Bridge Street, to the town Fire Hall, to the Weathervane Restaurant—are all real places. Other locations, like St. Ignatius Catholic Church, the Crow’s Nest Bar & Grill, and the Portside Marina are fictional, but composites of real places in the area. Of course, a Charlevoix local would know the difference between the real landmarks and the fictional ones. But as long as they thought I was true to the spirit of the town, well, that’s the most I could hope for. To me, Charlevoix is as important a character in the novel as any person.
There were other things—little things—referenced in the book that were real as well. For example, when describing Doc’s father, James Reynolds, I wrote that he had once gotten high with the members of Pink Floyd when they played Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan back in the early 1970’s. That’s true, Pink Floyd did play Hill Auditorium in the early 1970’s. I was there. They were on tour to promote their album “Atom Heart Mother.” Tickets were a mere $4.00. It was awesome!
Or, at the opening of the Chapter called, “Secrets Revealed,” there is a scene where Doc and Farren are driving to Traverse City to do some Christmas shopping, and Doc mentions that his family used to camp at the state park across from the street from the bay. So did I.
There is also truth to the medical treatments described in the book. I spoke with a doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, a surgical nurse at the University of Michigan, and a paramedic at a neighborhood Nashville firehouse to align all of my medical symptoms and treatments.
Then there were the biblical references that Clair spouted so effortlessly. Don’t even get me going on those. Suffice it to say, I’m not one of those people who can quote chapter and verse of the bible and it was a lot of work to find the appropriate biblical quote. But that’s what you do when you tell a story. You pull from everything you know: places, people, events, then do considerable research on top of that. To tell you the truth, there is something very draining about the writing process; about writing and weaving truth with fiction. But when a stranger writes a kind review, or someone comes up to you and says, “I really liked your book,” suddenly, it’s all worth it.
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